As part of a continuing project to present
an annual Passion performance as part of the Cheltenham Coffee
Concerts we gave the first performance outside Germany of this
thoughtful and moving work.

Click here to download the programme for
this performance which contains extensive notes on Stölzel
- including an English translation of his autobiography and
obituary, as well as a parallel translation of the text. The
translation were prepared by Lois Cole.

Who was Stölzel and why perform his
Passion?

Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel was one of the leading musicians of his
generation. Born in 1690 in a small village near what is now
the German/Czech border, he was educated at Leipzig University.
Subsequently he followed a cosmopolitan career as composer
working in Breslau, Gera, Beyreuth, Prague, and Innsbruck. Like
Handel, he spent over a year in Italy where he met, amongst
others, Vivaldi in Venice and Alessandro Scarlatti in Rome.
From 1720 to his death in 1749 he was Kapellmeister in Gotha.

Although his output was extensive, much of
his music was lost during the latter part of the C18th. And
because he worked at just one of the many courts in central
Germany that had a professional musical establishment, his name
has rather been relegated to the footnotes of history.

Which is a shame, because what survives of
his music is excellent. The Bach family clearly thought so too.
The aria Bist du bei mir from Stölzel’s opera Diomedes was
long thought to be by Bach (BWV 508) and Bach copied a
harpsichord Partita by him for his son Wilhelm Friedemann to
learn.

The opening of the harpsichord Partita in
Bach’s hand

One of the first works that Stölzel
composed when he was appointed Kappellmeister in Gotha was a Passion setting.
It was first performed at Easter
1720. Despite being quite different
from many of the passion settings of the time - for a start, he
wrote the poetry himself in the form of twenty ‘reflections’
on the biblical narrative - it proved particuarly popular.

A number of performances over a
twenty-year period can be traced through the survival of
printed libretti, including one from Cheltenham’s twin
town Göttingen. Another was given by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1734.

It seems amazing that a work that Bach
appreciated should have been so neglected. So we decided to do
something about it.

The titlepage of the libretto for the
1741 performance in Göttingen which confirms Stölzel’s
authorship of the text

Towards an edition of the music and a
performance

Although much of Stölzel’s
music has been lost, by a quirk of fate there is a substanital
collection in Sondershausen in central Germany. Stölzel held an
external position which required him to provide music for the
court there. By chance the same Passion that Bach performed
survives in a set of parts that were used in Sondershausen in
the early 1730s.

We managed to obtain copies of these, and
by collating them with the original libretto from Stölzel’s
performance in Gotha in 1720, we have been able to produce our
own edition from which we performed.

Surprisingly, we know quite a bit about
the conditions for the performances in Gotha and Sondershausen.
Lists of the players involved survive, and curious titbits of
information such as the fact that the alto singer played the
viola da gamba solo can be gleaned from the parts.

Our performance will reflected the
Sondershausen forces in that we used single strings with a
violone, harpsichord and organ continuo. Much of the vocal
music is for solo voice, and in the choruses and chorales we
used eight singers. There are some exquisite solos for the
oboe, and an aria featuring solo bassoon violin and oboe.
Incidentally, Bach seemed to have appreciated this aria since
he later reworked it as Bekennen
will ich seinen Namen (BWV 200).

The Schlosskirche in Gotha where Stölzel’s
Passion was first performed in 1720